Lawmaker Says Snowden Leaks Will Cost Country 'Billions To Repair'

Following a classified briefing on Wednesday, the chairman and the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said the "majority" of the classified information taken by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had "nothing to do with the NSA," or its collection of bulk data.

"Instead [his leaks] specifically [work] to compromise the military capability and defense of the country," Rep. Mac Thornberry, a Texas Republican and the vice chairman of the committee, said during a press briefing.

Thornberry added the leaks will "certainly cost billions to repair."

"His actions were espionage plain and simple," Thornberry said.

Rep. Howard McKeon, a Republican from California and the committee chairman, piled on.

"Edward Snowden isn't a whistle-blower; he isn't a hero. He's a traitor and a criminal," McKeon said. Americans, he added, would be "shocked and outraged" to learn how much of the information he took had to do with defense issues.

"The damage to the military is not the mark of a whistle-blower," McKeon said.

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